The U.K.’s Competition Commission has announced that it has provisionally found that British Sky Broadcasting’s control over the pay TV movie market is restricting competition among rivals, leading to higher prices and fewer choices for consumers.

The investigation, which the Commission began in August 2010, followed a three-year study of the pay TV market by the U.K.’s communications regulator, Ofcom.

According to the Commission’s findings, Sky has held the exclusive rights to distribute first releases of movies on pay TV from the six largest Hollywood studios for the past 20 years.  The lead investigator for the Commission noted that Sky’s position as the largest provider of pay TV in the U.K. has allowed it to continually outbid its rivals for these rights. 

The Commission found that Sky’s exercise of these rights and its market dominance cost consumers £50-£60 million ($80-$95 million) a year more than they otherwise would have paid in a more competitive market.  The Commission also found that while Sky provided first releases of movies to one of its competitors, Virgin Media, to distribute, it did so at unfavorable rates.

The Commission has proposed three possible remedies for which it seeks comment: (1) restricting the number of studios granting exclusive rights to Sky; (2) restricting the nature of those rights (such as by allowing for competitors to have concurrent distribution rights through other means); and/or (3) requiring Sky to purchase and offer to its subscribers movie channels created by its rivals.

The Commission’s final report is due August 3, 2012.

Banks in the European Payments Council (EPC) are being probed by the antitrust department of the European Commission (EC) as a result of Payment Network AG’s complaint that it was locked out of the process to set the standard for streamlining payments systems in Europe.

EPC members include banks such as Lloyds TSB, Citibank, Barclays, UBS, HSBC Holdings Plc and Deutsche Bank AG.

The EPC is the “decision-making and coordination body of the European banking industry in relation to payments” that was formed to implement a Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA).  SEPA is a “European Union integration initiative in the area of payments” involving standards and practices aimed at a Single Market for payments in Europe. 

According to the EPC, the group must answer an EC request for information about the “cooperation of banks and payment institutions for designing rules and standards for e-payment services.”  The investigation was sparked after Payment Network AG accused the EPC of excluding it from the standard-setting process altogether, after several requests last year from Payment Network to become involved in the creation of a draft standard and logo were ignored by the EPC.

If Payment Network is excluded from the proposed SEPA standards, it would be unable to display the proposed SEPA logo used by rivals, which could be a big competitive disadvantage if consumers believed its network was not secure.

The EPC claims it is receiving “diverging messages” from regulators who are asking for accelerated adoption of common standards to ease payments made in Euros, but at the same time scrutinizing the decisions made by the group in the name of competition.

Although three rivals of IBM have dropped their complaints that IBM illegally tied its mainframe hardware to its operating system, the computer giant is not out of regulatory woods yet.

Both the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the European Commission maintain ongoing antitrust investigations – sparked by the complaints – into a possible monopoly IBM holds in the mainframe computer market.

In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), IBM stated that two providers of IBM compatible emulator software, Neon Enterprise Software LLC and T3 Technologies Inc., have withdrawn their complaints filed with the European Commission.

Turbo Hercules SAS, a company providing similar products, has also dropped all complaints against IBM.  IBM has stated that the settlements did not involve any monetary compensation.

In addition to dropping their European Commission complaints, Neon and T3 are also dropping their antitrust lawsuits filed against IBM in the U.S.

The three companies that had lodged complaints against IBM were providers of emulator software used on mainframe computers.  This technology allows mainframe operating systems and applications to run Windows, Linux, Mac OS, or Solaris as the host environment, thereby bypassing the need for IBM’s proprietary mainframe software. 

The withdrawal of the complaints has not ended the regulatory scrutiny, however.  Neither the DOJ nor the European Commission has concluded its antitrust investigation of IBM.

These investigations came as the result of numerous complaints filed by mainframe emulator software producers.  While the complaints have been withdrawn, the DOJ has requested the documents pursuant to the settled cases.

The European Commission is investigating whether luxury watch manufacturers have suppressed competition by refusing to provide spare parts to independent repairers.

While the Commission has not identified any specific companies, the Swatch Group, parent company of such brands as Omega and Breguet, has identified itself as one of the subjects.  Swatch has said it is confident regarding the outcome of the inquiry.

The probe comes as the result of a complaint filed by the Confederation of Watch and Clock Repairers’ Associations (“CEAHR”) in 2002.  The EU Regulatory Commission initially rejected the complaint because of insufficient community interest, but a 2010 ruling from the General Court in Luxembourg overturned this decision.

CEAHR claims that watch manufacturers’ refusal to provide spare parts to independent watchmakers is harming competition by driving these artisans out of business.  According to CEAHR, consumers are being harmed because manufacturers often refuse to accommodate unique customer requests and carry out repairs without the input of the customer.  CEAHR says that such a restraint on competition enables manufacturers to charge artificially high prices.

Two major players in the automotive manufacturing industry, Sweden’s Autoliv and Michigan’s TRW, are under investigation by the antitrust divisions of both the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and the European Commission (“EU”). 

Both companies are multi-billion dollar corporations that supply safety systems, such as seatbelts, airbags and steering wheels, to automakers.  Autoliv and TRW each operate on a global scale, employing thousands of people worldwide. 

The EU recently conducted surprise visits to Autoliv and TRW manufacturing facilities in Germany.  A spokesman for the Commission said that there “is reason to believe that the companies concerned may have violated EU antitrust rules that prohibit cartels and restrictive business practices.” 

In the U.S., the DOJ is overseeing a similar investigation and has subpoenaed documents from both TRW and Autoliv. 

In keeping with their policies, neither agency has provided details of these ongoing investigations.